By Charlotte Warden, an intern with the Lowy Institute's West Asia Program.
As the United States reaches its annual refugee admissions cap (the Trump administration has cut the intake by more than half, to 50,000), Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has reassured those on Nauru that the refugee swap deal will be respected. Shadow Defence Minister (and former Shadow Immigration Minister) Richard Marles has advocated that the government consider other options, as 'all their eggs are now in the US basket'.
Yesterday marked four years since the Australian government's announcement that no asylum seekers arriving by boat would be resettled in Australia. The then Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has defended his decision to implement the Pacific Solution that re-introduced offshore processing.
Human Rights Watch has called on Canada to expedite the refugee claims of the Sri Lankan and Philippine families who sheltered Edward Snowden in Hong Kong in 2013.
The decision to merge various Australian government departments into a new Home Affairs portfolio has raised concerns for the Department of Immigration. Nadine Flood from the CPSU is among those who believe the department's 2015 merger with Customs ‘is still not fully bedded down’.
In this post on The Conversation, Shanthi Robertson and Kristine Aquino refute the claim that Sydney's public infrastructure congestion is caused by the intake of asylum seekers in the city's west.
Charlotte Alfred of Refugees Deeply interviews Galen Englund on the importance of granular migration data collection, and the disparity in current methods.
Violence in the Central African Republic has driven 60,000 people to flee since May 2017. Read a summary of the UNHCR’s press conference.
Photojournalist Thomas Dworzak has published a guidebook, Europe: An Illustrated Introduction to Europe to Migrants and Refugees. The book provides practical information, from how to use an ATM in Stockholm to the complexities of rubbish bins in Berlin. It is available in English, Farsi, Arabic and French.
The Economist's 'The World If' contemplates the possibility of open borders. Michael Clemens of the Centre for Global Development argues allowing freedom of movement to find employment would make the world's economy '$78 trillion richer'. In order to alleviate poverty, he argues it is necessary to leave the places where it persists.
This is how we are able to save precious time and resources in emergency situations pic.twitter.com/6y5oRqI13o
— UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) July 17, 2017